Recent progress in the National Aerospace Plane program

The goal of the NASP (National Aerospace Plane) program is to develop and demonstrate the feasibility of a horizontal take-off and landing aircraft that utilizes conventional airfields, accelerates to hypersonic speeds, achieves orbit in a single stage, delivers useful payloads to space, returns to Earth with propulsive capability, and has the operability, flexibility, supportability, and economic potential of airplanes. The technological requirements of such a craft are examined, and current research efforts are described